Baseball icon Cal Ripken Jr. will become the face and voice of Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable company, in a deal announced yesterday.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
The two-year partnership between Comcast and Ripken Baseball will include appearances in Comcast marketing campaigns by the ex-Orioles star. Ripken has already shot two television commercials for Comcast. Comcast, in turn, will sponsor Ripken's minor league team, the Aberdeen IronBirds.
"How they choose to use Cal is up to them, in terms of the spokesperson aspect," said John Maroon, a spokesman for Ripken Baseball, a sales and marketing company and parent of the IronBirds, a Baltimore Orioles affiliate. "It's our goal to have a long-term relationship with Comcast."
Past - and current - Ripken endorsements with MBNA America, Coca-Cola, Radio Shack and Quaker State have included appearances in print and television advertising and on billboards, as well as personal appearances, Maroon said. The value of a Ripken endorsement for a corporation goes beyond his recognition as a sports celebrity, said Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon.
"Cal as the person represents an all-American kind of brand identity that any company would love to associate with," Swangard said. "He represents the kind of athlete we don't see much of anymore, staying with one team and showing loyalty to his customers, who are his fans. And Comcast needs loyal customers to maintain its position in their business."
Comcast also will sponsor the Cal Ripken World Series, a nationally televised tournament that will be played in Aberdeen from Aug. 14 through Aug. 24, culminating with the crowning of the champion of the Cal Ripken Division of Babe Ruth League Inc. Some 600,000 children ages 5 to 12 play in the division worldwide, with 15 teams of 12-year-olds participating in the World Series.
Comcast's sponsorship of the IronBirds and the World Series will give the cable giant an opportunity to "tap into mainstream America and that sort of audience," Swangard said.
The cable company has been heavily involved in the business of sports, even outside its cable television programming. In 1996, Comcast formed Comcast-Spectacor, which owns and operates the Philadelphia Flyers NHL hockey team, the Philadelphia 76ers NBA basketball team and the First Union Spectrum and First Union Center sports arenas in Philadelphia. Also that year, Comcast started a regional sports channel, Comcast SportsNet.
